Afterthoughts
by Daicy
Summary: A series of one-shots that resolve loose ends, continuity errors, or plot holes to episodes, while keeping continuity with canon. In other words, expect fan-made additional scenes to Charmed episodes.
1. (2x07) Criminal Records

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Charmed or any of its characters.

* * *

**Episode:** _They're Everywhere_ _(2x07)_

**Loose End: **When Phoebe and Eric walk into the museum _in broad daylight_ _with many eyewitnesses_, destroy one of the main artifacts on show, _and_ _then_ leave without consequences for it to _never_ be mentioned again - especially considering the fact that Phoebe and Eric forget they ever committed the act... Well, surely there had to be some consequences?

* * *

**Criminal Records**

Phoebe had woken up in the park with no memory of the past three weeks. Prue and Piper had tried to fill her in on as much as possible of what she had forgotten: the Akashic Records; the two Collectors (a type of warlock); and Eric and his dad. Phoebe was still unsure of the specifics of the events and had been pretty annoyed that she had lost three weeks worth of memory in the process of a couple of minutes.

A few days later, Phoebe was at Bayside Convalescent Hospital as part of her volunteering shift. She was in an empty hospital room, placing some flowers and magazines onto a table, when someone entered the room.

When the familiar face introduced himself as Eric - the guy she had seen at the park the other day - Phoebe smiled. After a brief chat full of déjà vu, she offered to show him to the hospital's sunroom. Phoebe and Eric left the hospital room together. As they began walking along a corridor, a police officer suddenly approached them at a brisk pace.

Phoebe and Eric stopped when the police officer came up to them.

'Phoebe Halliwell?' the police officer asked Phoebe.

'That's me,' said Phoebe, slightly wary of why he was addressing her.

The police officer nodded and turned to Eric. 'Are you Eric Bragg?'

'Er, yes...' said Eric, narrowing his eyes.

'Is there anything we can help you with, officer?' asked Phoebe.

'In fact there is,' said the officer. 'Phoebe Halliwell and Eric Bragg. You are both under arrest.'

* * *

Piper had returned from her two day trip with Dan that morning. Piper and Dan had hardly focused on the wedding that they had been guests at. The couple of days away had been more about their own personal relationship than attending that wedding.

Piper had gone straight upstairs to her room to put her suitcase away. When she came downstairs, she found Prue in the kitchen. Piper knew that Phoebe would be at the hospital volunteering today, but Prue had the day off from Bucklands.

Prue looked up from the newspaper she had been reading. 'Hey Piper.'

Piper went straight to the cabinet and got a mug down while she prepared the coffee maker. 'Morning, Prue.'

'How was it?' asked Prue, smirking.

Piper blushed. 'How was what?'

Prue laughed. 'We may no longer be able to read each others' minds, but I can already tell that you had a good couple of days at the wedding with you-know-who.'

Piper's cheeks went even more rosier as she refrained from responding.

'When are you next seeing him?' asked Prue, continuing the sisterly interrogation.

Piper shrugged as she filled her mug with coffee. 'Maybe later today. He has to catch up with his work first though. Speaking about work, I need to check on P3.'

Prue feigned a hurt expression. 'You don't trust that I did a good job looking after the club for the two days you were gone?'

Piper sat down at the table opposite Prue, sipping her freshly made coffee. 'Of course I trust you. I mean, it's not like I was gone for _one whole month_. That would be a lot more hassle for the club's stock control than two measly days.'

Prue made a face at the thought of stock control. 'I may be good at history, art, photography, latin, and bossing people around, but I don't think I could stand to sort out stock. Too many silly numbers and decimal points.'

Piper laughed.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Both Prue and Piper turned their heads in the direction of the foyer.

'That can't be Dan. He left straight for his work after dropping me off here,' said Piper. 'I hope it's not Leo with Charmed business.'

Someone was ringing the doorbell non-stop. Prue sighed, put her newspaper down, and stood up.

'Don't worry, Piper. Just sit there and contemplate who it could be, while I go and actually find out the facts by answering the door,' said Prue sarcastically.

Piper rolled her eyes and followed the eldest Halliwell to the foyer. Prue opened the front door to reveal Darryl Morris.

'Inspector Morris?' said Piper, surprised to see him there. 'What are you doing here?'

'Is everything okay, Darryl?' asked Prue, noticing Darryl's flustered expression.

'It's Phoebe,' said Darryl.

Prue and Piper exchanged worried looks.

'What about her?' asked Prue, turning back to Darryl.

'Prue, she has been arrested,' said Darryl.

'What?' yelled Piper in shock.

'My thoughts exactly,' muttered Prue.

Prue led Darryl into the living room. The three of them sat down on the sofa. Darryl did not know the Halliwell secret yet. However a month or so after Andy's death, Darryl had told Prue that although he did not know their secret, he would always be there to look out for them. Darryl had made this promise to Andy, and Darryl was going to keep it.

Piper rubbed her forehead, trying to comprehend what Darryl had announced to them.

'Darryl, why exactly has Phoebe been arrested?' asked Piper.

Darryl sighed. 'There is evidence of her and an identified male going into a museum and vandalising an ancient artifact. Actually, vandalising is too loose a term. They destroyed it.'

Prue and Piper exchanged knowing looks. They did not have to be able to read each others' minds to know what the ancient artifact had been or who the police had identified the male accomplice as.

_The Akashic Records_, thought Prue.

_Eric, the hospital hottie_, thought Piper.

Piper looked at Darryl. 'Are they sure it was definitely her? Do they have evidence?'

'Considering they did this in broad day light during the museum's peak opening times... What do you think?' asked Darryl rhetorically. 'There are eye witnesses _and_ video evidence.'

Prue and Piper jumped up simultaneously. Darryl stood up, following them to the foyer. Prue and Piper were already putting on their coats.

'Is she at the station?' Prue asked Darryl.

Darryl nodded. 'Yes, but they are currently interrogating her about it.'

'Oh, this is bad,' said Piper. 'She is not going to know anything that is going on.'

Darryl blinked in puzzlement. 'Why not?'

Prue turned to Piper. 'You're right... The last thing she remembered was the Halloween party.'

'What are you two going on about?' asked Darryl. 'Halloween was almost a month ago.'

Prue raised an eyebrow. 'Do you really want to know, Darryl?'

Darryl sighed. 'I would rather not.'

With those words, Prue, Piper, and Darryl headed out of Halliwell manor.

* * *

'I repeat my question, Miss Halliwell. Where were you at three o'clock two days ago?' asked an impatient officer.

Phoebe sighed. She and Eric had been taken to the police station and then split up into separate interrogation rooms. Phoebe had been sitting at a table being interviewed by the same officer for the past twenty minutes and had been unable to answer any of his questions.

Phoebe had her hands over her face, deep in thought, as she said, 'I... I really don't know... Maybe I was at the park?'

Phoebe peaked out between her fingers to see the officer's reaction to her answer. He looked frustrated, shaking his head, as he jotted her answer down. His notes were an accompaniment to the machine that was recording their interview.

Phoebe sighed. What had Prue and Piper not told her about two days ago? Prue and Piper had told Phoebe that she had had a premonition of Eric getting attacked by the Collectors. Prue and Piper had told Phoebe that they had spent the day trying to save Eric and his dad from the Collectors. Prue and Piper had told Phoebe that their final meeting with the Collectors culminated at Golden Gate Park. Prue and Piper had told Phoebe that she and Eric had had their minds wiped by the Collectors. Moments later, Prue and Piper had successfully vanquished the Collectors, which is when Phoebe, Eric, and his dad had all regained consciousness - although lacking their recent memories. Prue and Piper had also told Phoebe about the hearing thoughts spell that they had cast to check if Dan or Jack were warlocks.

'I repeat my question again, Miss Halliwell. You may want to be more certain about whether you want that to be your final statement for your whereabouts,' said the officer. 'Where were you at three o'clock two days ago?'

Phoebe was getting irritated now. She had been under custody for over twenty minutes and still had not been told why.

'Can you just tell me what I did?' asked Phoebe.

The officer looked up from his notepad at Phoebe. He shook his head again. Unwilling to accept the fact that she was playing the innocent, falsely-accused victim in this.

'I will be back in two minutes,' said the officer.

The officer stood up and left the interrogation room, locking the door behind him. Phoebe slumped her head onto the table.

'What did I do?' Phoebe mumbled.

* * *

Prue and Piper burst into the police station, followed by Darryl.

'Prue! Piper!' Darryl shouted.

Prue and Piper stopped in their tracks, turning to Darryl.

'What, Darryl?' said Prue impatiently. 'We need to get Phoebe out of here.'

'Prue, this is a police station. This is the law. Phoebe and her friend committed a criminal act. I know you and your sisters have found yourselves getting away with multiple unsolved cases, but that is because those have been passed off as coincidences. The police have _actual_ evidence and _actual_ eyewitnesses stating that they saw Phoebe and her friend commit the crime,' said Darryl, low enough for only the sisters to hear.

'I don't know how we are going to do this, but Phoebe will get out of this, Darryl,' said Prue obstinately. 'Phoebe has been through worse, and she survived that.'

Piper winced as she realised what Prue was referring to. Memories of seeing Phoebe being burnt at the stake from when they had gone to the future were still highly terrifying.

'We won't lose her this time,' muttered Piper.

Two officers came out of two separate rooms and began to have a hushed discussion.

'They came out of the interrogation rooms,' Darryl told the sisters. 'I will find out what they know.'

'Thanks, Darryl,' said Prue, smiling weakly.

Darryl smiled back before walking over to the two officers. Prue and Piper remained by the police station entrance. Prue crossed her arms as she watched the three officers converse, unable to hear their conversation from where she stood.

'Prue,' Piper said quietly. 'What are we going to do?'

'I don't know, Piper,' replied Prue. Trying to lighten the tone a little, she added, 'At least she was not caught doing magic...'

'Please stop reminding me of that day,' said Piper. 'I feel like Pratt could walk into the station any minute.'

The two officers returned to their respective interrogation rooms as Darryl made his way back over to Prue and Piper.

'What did they say?' Prue asked Darryl immediately.

'It's not good,' said Darryl.

* * *

The officer returned to his seat opposite Phoebe in the interrogation room.

'I have consulted with the officer that is interviewing your friend,' said the officer. 'Looks like the two of you are both playing clueless.'

Phoebe frowned. _Of course he is just as clueless as I am! We both lost three weeks of our memories!_ Obviously she could not tell the officer what she was thinking. Firstly, he would probably think that the amnesia thing was a stupid excuse; and secondly, if he did believe the amnesia excuse, there would be more questions asked that could lead to the exposure of magic.

Suddenly the interrogation door opened. Phoebe's face lit up when she saw Prue and Piper. They shut the door behind them. Prue waved her hand inconspicuously, telekinetically switching off the machine that had been recording the interview. The officer stood up.

'You cannot be in here!' shouted the officer.

'Is that what you think, buddy?' asked Piper as she flicked her wrists at him, causing him to freeze.

'Am I glad to see you two!' said Phoebe, jumping up from her seat to hug them. 'Wait, how did you get past the officers outside?'

'I froze them, so they did not see us enter this room,' said Piper.

Phoebe nodded. 'Did I already tell you that that's one nifty power?'

'You mumbled that the other day when Piper left to go on her trip with Dan,' laughed Prue.

'Er, we may not have to worry about when the officers outside unfreeze, but we do have to worry about how long the freeze on him will last,' Piper warned her sisters as she reminded them of the frozen officer.

'Good point,' said Phoebe. 'So what's the plan to get me out of here?'

Prue and Piper exchanged uneasy looks.

'We don't know,' said Prue.

'What?' yelled Phoebe. 'Do you even know what I did? I am getting 2009 flashbacks at the moment! First I have no idea what I did wrong, and now you two break into where I am being held just to tell me you have no plan?'

'The police have not told you why you were arrested?' asked Piper, surprised.

'No! I almost expect Leo to orb in any second with a newspaper clipping so as he can give me a premonition of what I did!' shouted Phoebe hysterically. She began pacing around the interrogation room while Prue and Piper remained still, following Phoebe with their gazes. 'The only other thing missing from this scene would be you with blonde hair, Prue!'

Prue blushed. 'I definitely won't be making that mistake in the future.'

Phoebe stopped pacing and placed one hand on the table. She accidentally brushed the officer's notepad with her hand. This triggered a premonition:

_Phoebe and Eric were walking through a busy museum. Eric had a fire extinguisher in his hands. They were having a hurried conversation as they briskly walked into the main hall of the crowded museum. They came to a stop next to a glass cabinet that contained a clay-like tablet: the Akashic Records. Eric was about to smash the glass cabinet open with the fire extinguisher when Phoebe stopped him. After a few brief words, Eric went ahead and smashed the glass cabinet open. Glass poured all around them as Eric dropped the fire extinguisher and reached into the broken cabinet to pull out the clay-like tablet. People had stopped to stare at Phoebe and Eric, in absolute shock at what they were doing. There were many gasps as Eric threw the clay-like tablet onto the floor, causing it to crumble into multiple pieces. Grabbing Phoebe's hand, Eric began to run. Slightly shocked at what she had just taken part in, Phoebe allowed herself to follow the arm that was dragging her along.  
_

Phoebe let out a deep breath as her premonition finished. She covered her face with her hands.

'I am in deep trouble,' Phoebe said, her voice muffled by her hands.

'I would like to rant at you and say 'What were you thinking?' but now's not the time,' said Prue, realising that Phoebe now knew what she had done.

Phoebe took her hands away from her face and stared at her two older sisters.

Phoebe gulped. 'Do you think Leo's bosses foresaw this when they decided to send us off to the future?'

'Phoebe, we cannot leave you to get locked up,' said Piper, referring to the moral that they had been forced to learn in that future.

'This is nothing like that future,' said Prue. 'You did not murder anyone. You did not use your magic. You did not expose magic. All you did was break the law, and you did that to -'

Prue was interrupted by a voice.

'You two must leave now!' shouted the police officer who had unfrozen just in time to not hear Prue mention the word 'magic'.

'Piper,' hinted Phoebe.

Piper flicked her wrists and the police officer froze again. 'I cannot keep doing that.'

Prue turned back to Phoebe. 'Where was I? Oh yeah. Pheebs, all you and Eric were doing was making sure that evil could not possibly access the Akashic Records again. You were only doing your job which is why -' Prue paused to look up at the ceiling. Then she continued, '- Leo's bosses should really be helping us out right about now.' Prue returned her gaze to Phoebe as she finished saying this.

Phoebe sighed. 'They have not done anything yet though. Have they?'

'Well, we know the perfect person to ask,' said Prue. 'Le -'

Prue was interrupted again. This time she had been interrupted by the ringing noise coming from her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket.

'Can one of you two call him while I answer this?' Prue hissed at Piper and Phoebe, just before answering her phone. 'Hello?'

'Prue.' It was Darryl.

'Hey Darryl,' said Prue. 'What's wrong?'

'Where did you and Piper go? One moment you were at the station and the next, you had vanished,' said Darryl.

'We walk fast,' lied Prue. 'We decided to go back to the manor. It was no use staying at the station after what you said. Can you let us know what happens with Phoebe?'

'Sure,' said Darryl. 'So you are back at the manor?'

'Yes,' lied Prue.

'Really? I phoned the manor four times with no reply before I tried you,' said Darryl.

'Oh, yeah... Sorry, we probably did not hear it,' said Prue.

'Right,' said Darryl. 'And do you and Piper walk so quickly that you do not need a car to get back to the manor?'

'What do you mean?' asked Prue.

'I am standing by your jeep, which is still parked outside the police station,' said Darryl.

'Er, I think we are going through a tunnel, Darryl, because the line seems to be breaking up,' said Prue, just before hanging up.

Prue noticed the looks she was getting from Piper and Phoebe, as she placed her phone back into her pocket.

'What? I could not exactly tell him we were in the interrogation room with Phoebe, could I?' said Prue.

'You are one terrible liar,' laughed Phoebe.

The room emanated with a blue glow as blue and white orbs coalesced into a figure. The orbs vanished as Leo appeared in their place.

'What's wrong?' asked Leo, taking one side glance at the frozen police officer before turning to the Halliwell sisters.

'Don't act like you don't know, Leo,' said Piper. 'Phoebe is in trouble with the law. All she was doing was helping an innocent.'

'The least your bosses could do is help us out of this one,' said Prue. 'We used no personal gain magic to get into this mess, so we should -'

'Should we take this discussion somewhere else before he unfreezes?' asked Leo, pointing at the officer.

'This discussion involves Phoebe, and if he unfreezes, and she is not here, I think we will find ourselves in more trouble than we are in right now,' said Prue.

'Fine. I will make this quick,' said Leo. 'Being the Charmed Ones does not mean you are above the law. I know what happened. Phoebe did not break the artifact. Eric did. The only way to get out of this is legally. I suggest getting a good lawyer.'

'So you mean I could end up going to jail?' said Phoebe quietly, furrowing her brow.

'Yes,' said Leo apologetically.

'No,' said Piper. 'You cannot let this happen! Your bosses cannot let this happen! What would they do about evil if the Power of Three were split up like that?'

Leo sighed. 'I will talk to them.' Leo orbed out.

Phoebe took a deep breath. 'I keep thinking that I will wake up and find myself in the manor like I did those few months ago.'

'Us too,' said Prue and Piper.

'You should go,' said Phoebe, deciding that all she could do was accept her possible fate, just like she had been forced to all those months ago. _At least the worst that can happen is jail, and not the loss of my life_, thought Phoebe glumly.

Piper hugged Phoebe. 'We will keep in touch.'

'Piper! We won't let her go to jail!' shouted Prue.

'I know. I meant as in over the next few hours before she is released,' said Piper, trying to remain positive.

Prue nodded.

* * *

Back at Halliwell manor, Prue and Piper were both sitting in the living room. Each were engrossed in a different task. Prue was searching through the Book of Shadows for a magical answer to their problem, while Piper was searching through the local phone book for a good lawyer.

'Hmm... This lawyer sounds promising,' said Piper, looking closer at a particular advertisement she had found. 'He is not part of a firm; he works by himself. A Cole Tu -'

'Phoebe won't need a lawyer,' interrupted Prue.

'Why?' asked Piper, looking up from the phone book.

Prue beckoned for Piper to sit next to her on the sofa. Piper did this and looked at the Book of Shadows page that Prue had open.

'That can't work, can it?' muttered Piper as she read the entry.

'It might,' said Prue.

Just then Leo orbed into the living room. Prue and Piper looked up at him.

'My bosses said that you should be able to find a spell in the Book of Shadows to help you,' said Leo.

'You are a little behind,' said Prue, smiling. 'We just found that spell by ourselves.'

Piper grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen. She began to scribble down the spell from the Book.

'Okay. So you really did not need me after all?' asked Leo, feeling a little useless.

Piper finished scribbling down the spell. 'Actually, Leo, we do need your help...'

'...According to the Book, Phoebe has to be the one to say the spell...' Prue continued for Piper.

Piper handed Leo the scrap of paper. '...And we need you to deliver the spell to Phoebe,' Piper concluded.

Leo smiled. 'Glad to be of help.' He orbed out.

'Is it just me or did you feel like we sent the spell off by owl post at all?' asked Prue.

Ignoring Prue's question, Piper asked, 'Should we drive over to the police station now, so as we can be ready to pick her up?'

'I think so,' said Prue, shutting the Book of Shadows, with a wave of her hand.

* * *

Phoebe sat in the interrogation room by herself now. Her interview had finished half an hour ago. She had decided against telling the officer how the events had played out. She did not like that Prue, Piper, and Leo had basically told her to pin the blame on Eric. She could never do that to him, or to anyone. Even in her days as the rebellious teen who was always being sent home to Grams by an escort of police officers, Phoebe had never ratted out her friends. Therefore Phoebe had continued to play the clueless victim.

Phoebe lay her head on the table. She had no idea what was going to happen now. The police officer had left to find out where he was supposed to send her. She had not expected him to take this long.

Phoebe heard a faint jingling sound, but ignored it.

'Need some company?'

Phoebe jumped in surprise at hearing Leo's voice. She looked up to see him smiling at her.

'Please tell me you have good news,' said Phoebe.

Leo held a scrap of paper out to her. Phoebe took it hesitantly. Her eyes widened as she read it.

'A spell? What does it do?' asked Phoebe.

'You'll see,' said Leo, orbing out before Phoebe could pester him for a better response.

Slowly, Phoebe read the spell out loud:

_Replace what was lost,_

_Its absence is a cost._

_For the Greater Good, restore it with a fake,_

_Within the time it took for the original to break_.

When Phoebe had finished reading, she looked around the interrogation room. Nothing seemed any different. Suddenly the door burst open. Phoebe shoved the scrap of paper into her pocket. The police officer walked in, looking slightly embarrassed.

'The police department do extend their deepest apologies, Miss Halliwell,' said the police officer.

'Excuse me?' said Phoebe.

'We now understand exactly why you had no idea what we were talking about,' continued the police officer.

'Er, do you think you could give me more details?' asked Phoebe, trying to figure out what exactly the spell had done.

'The video footage of you and Mr. Bragg appears to have been faked and it is possible that many of the eye witnesses must have been unreliable,' said the police officer.

'What has caused this change of opinion?' asked Phoebe, curiously wondering how the spell had taken effect.

'The museum phoned to say that the artifact appears to have turned up in their storage facility,' said the police officer.

Phoebe smiled. 'So I am free to go?'

The police officer nodded. Phoebe stood up and made her way out of the interrogation room. She saw Eric leaving the other interrogation room. He was smiling too.

'Looks like our names were finally cleared,' Eric said to Phoebe as they made their way out of the police station.

Phoebe nodded. 'It sure does.'

As the two of them exited the police station into the cold night time air, Phoebe saw Prue's jeep drive into the car park.

'Do you want a lift at all?' Phoebe asked Eric.

'Nah. I will be fine walking,' said Eric.

'Okay. See you around,' said Phoebe.

'Yeah,' said Eric.

Phoebe got into the jeep. Prue was in the driver's seat and Piper was in the front passenger's seat. They turned around, smiling at Phoebe.

'Told you that we would not let you down,' said Prue.

Phoebe smiled. 'If I understand the spell correctly... Did it replace the original Akashic Records with a fake?'

Piper nodded. 'That way, if evil goes looking for it, it won't actually be of any use to them.'

'And at the same time, the fact that it is still in the museum has cleared your name,' added Prue.

Prue began to drive out of the car park onto the main road.

'So, Piper, I did not get a chance to ask you when I saw you earlier...' began Phoebe.

'What's that?' asked Piper.

'How was your time away with neighbour Dan?' asked Phoebe, smirking.

Piper did not reply, but Phoebe could tell that she was blushing.

* * *

**A/N:** I believe I referenced _The_ _Honeymoon's Over (3x01)_ and I even referenced a certain season three ADA, who for all we know could have been working as an independent lawyer during season two. Oh, and of course, I managed to draw a parallel to _Morality Bites (2x02)_.

I do hope to write more of these one-shots. The next one will definitely be a post season three based one. That way Paige can feature in it.


	2. (4x02) Farewell Oscar

**Episode:** _Charmed Again Part 2 (4x02)_

**Loose End:** While under the possession of the Source, Shane killed Paige's pet canary, Oscar. Her pet's disappearance is never mentioned again, which can be understandable considering the huge more memorable revelations during this time. However, here is a proper send-off scene for Oscar.

* * *

**Farewell Oscar**

Paige Matthews arrived back at her flat apartment in the early hours of the morning. She placed her key into the lock to open her front door as she tried to process what had happened over the past two days...

On the day of Prudence Halliwell's funeral, Paige Matthews had found out three things: She was a Halliwell; she was a witch; and she was part white lighter. The first revelation was more of a confirmation to what she had figured out for herself. For the past year, she had suspected that she could be related to the Halliwell sisters, but she had never found the courage to approach them at _P3_, because she knew that the concept of being their long lost sister sounded ridiculous. However, it turned out that this had been true.

The second and third revelations had been more difficult for Paige to comprehend. Piper and Phoebe Halliwell had told Paige that they were witches and that she was one too. This was immediately followed by the three of them stopping the monster that Paige recognised from earlier that evening when it had attacked her. With all this overbearing information, Paige had been understandably freaked out.

Magic was real... Paige had witnessed it for herself.

The lock on the front door clicked as the door swung open. Paige walked into her dark apartment, switching on the light as she closed the door. Paige had spent the last hour at the manor. Her sisters had given Paige the chance to meet Patty Halliwell, her birth mother. It had been a long emotional reunion.

Paige had been to _P3_ before the manor. Therefore she was still dressed in a long pink dress. The time she had spent at _P3_ consisted of her, Piper, and Phoebe talking to one another, finding things out about one another. Paige was still trying to get her head around the fact that she actually knew for definite that the Halliwells were her real family.

Paige put her keys and her purse down on the coffee table. As she did this, she noticed Shane's jacket hanging off the back of her sofa. Paige frowned. This new _destiny_ - as Piper and Phoebe had called it - had already ruined one of Paige's relationships. Shane no longer wanted to see Paige, which she understood, considering he had been possessed by evil and probably did not want to remember anything. Paige almost felt envious of him. He could leave the magical world behind and forget all about it. Paige felt like she was tied to it now. She did not know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Paige slumped onto her sofa, leaning against Shane's jacket. Paige wished that Glen was not off on his round-the-world trip at the moment. She really needed someone like him to talk to about all of this. Paige reached over to her phone and picked it up. She began to dial the number that Glen had given her. Before she had finished dialling, she put the phone down. What had happened to her over the past two days was not something she could explain over the phone.

From her seat on the sofa, Paige took in the view of her apartment. It was weird how her perspective of everything had changed. Magic was real... Witches existed. _She_ was a witch. Monsters - what Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Cole had called _demons_ - also existed. _Evil_ was out there in the world. Not just the evil that Paige thought she witnessed at work when people did not get justice, but also evil as in evil that could threaten the world, evil that only good witches could stop. Then there was the Source of All Evil. It was part of Paige's destiny to help Piper and Phoebe defeat him. That was a lot to take in.

As Paige's eyes continued to flit around the apartment, she noticed something out of place, or rather something that was missing. Paige stood up and slowly approached Oscar's bird cage. Oscar was a blue canary. Paige had only had him for a couple of weeks now. He had been an early birthday gift from Paige's Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave. Paige had been reluctant to accept the canary as a gift at first, because she had not been too sure if she could handle looking after a pet between her long hours at work and her social life. There was also the fact that Paige worried that the stray cat, that often found its way into her apartment, might think the canary was a chew toy. However after persistence from her aunt and uncle, Paige had accepted the canary graciously.

Paige peered into the cage. Apart from the perch and the bowl of food, the cage was empty. There was some ash present on the floor of the cage. Paige's eyes widened in fear as she recalled what had happened when she had last seen Oscar.

Oscar had been screeching and squawking and making as much noise as possible when Shane was in Paige's apartment. Moments later Paige left her apartment for work. Shane had staid behind as Paige trusted him in her apartment.

When Paige had returned that evening, she had been swamped with thoughts about the morality of her work and the morality of the magical witches that called themselves her sisters. Therefore Paige had not been able to focus on anything else. This feeling had eclipsed her for most of the following day too. So much so that Paige was morally ambiguous to whether using her powers to remove a man's heart was good or evil. Even after the Halliwells and Leo had stopped her and convinced her that she was in fact not evil, Paige had still been too bewildered by everything. When she had helped Leo heal Cole, Paige had felt the need to ask 'That was good, right?'

Thinking back to that moment now, Paige blushed at how stupid the question sounded. Saving a man's life was a good thing, while trying to magically remove another man's heart was not a good thing. How had she managed to let her morals become so clouded?

Paige's eyes began to water as she realised that the Source must have killed Oscar. She could not understand why.

Suddenly Paige felt the need for some fresh air. Although it was three in the morning and Paige had gotten little sleep the night before this one, she decided she would try to honour Oscar's memory. Paige gathered the canary's ashes into a small lidded tin. With the lid on tight, Paige put a jacket on and left her apartment.

Paige found herself out in the apartment building's grassy courtyard. It was relatively dark, but the street lights allowed her to see what she was doing. Paige walked over to a flower bed. She knelt down on the grass, putting the tin down next to her. With her hands, Paige dug a small hole in the soil of the flower bed.

Paige picked up the tin again and removed the lid. As the breeze of the cold night swept across her face, Paige froze. She did not feel like she had the strength to empty the tin into the flower bed.

'Do you mind if I join you?'

Paige turned around to see Phoebe Halliwell standing in the courtyard. Paige feigned a smile, hoping that her tears were not visible to Phoebe.

'Hey,' said Paige. Her voice was a little croaky.

'Hi there,' said Phoebe, approaching Paige. 'Can I crash this funeral?'

Paige shrugged. 'It's only fair, considering I crashed Prue's funeral the other day.'

Phoebe smiled and sat down to the left of Paige.

Paige furrowed her brow. 'Wait. How did you know this was a funeral? How did you know I would be here?'

'I get premonitions, remember?' Phoebe pointed out. Then she explained further: 'When you were at _P3_ earlier, I had a premonition of this.'

Paige nodded. Her eyes darted back to the open tin in her hands.

'Who's the funeral for?' Phoebe asked.

'Oscar. He is - was my canary,' replied Paige. 'Sha - The Source ki -' Paige could not finish the sentence, but Phoebe had understood what Paige had been trying to imply.

'I am so sorry, Paige,' said Phoebe. 'Had you had the canary for long?'

Paige shook her head. 'It's not that, Phoebe. It's the fact that the Source could be so heartless. Oscar did nothing to him except dislike him. I did not even notice it then. I thought Oscar was just being restless in his cage. The Source had no reason to...' Paige trailed off.

Phoebe sighed. 'Unfortunately, that's the Source of All Evil for you, Paige. Don't worry. Piper and I... and Prue... We have been through much worse before. Unfortunately, there will probably be worse things to come... That is until you, Piper, and I vanquish the Source.'

Paige glared at Phoebe. 'You really don't get it! Oscar was more than just a victim! He was the last link I had to the sane world!'

Phoebe looked a little taken aback by this remark. 'Are you calling Piper and me _in_sane?'

'Just the world that you have dragged me into,' muttered Paige.

'Paige, we never dragged you into it,' argued Phoebe. 'You were born into that world, just like Piper, me, and... Prue... were. You had a couple years longer of hiding from it than the three of us did.'

Paige sighed. She had noticed the number of times that Phoebe had hesitated on saying Prue's name.

'It's okay to miss Prue, you know? You are allowed to let your guard down once in a while,' Paige advised Phoebe.

Ignoring Paige's remark, Phoebe asked, 'What did you mean by Oscar being your last link to... let's call it normality, because I have got to admit that my life has not been normal ever since I first read aloud from the Book of Shadows.'

'My adoptive parents died when I was a teenager. My last link to that family is my dad's brother, Dave, and his wife, Julie. They don't live anywhere near San Francisco. They used to travel here a lot to visit me, but... Well, they are not very mobile anymore. My Aunt Julie has been through a series of hip operations. My Uncle Dave came to San Francisco a few weeks ago to buy Oscar for me - an early birthday present - because he knew that they would not be coming here again and that I don't have the money to visit them,' explained Paige.

'Once you get your orbing power sorted, you could always go for that option instead of buying a plane ticket,' joked Phoebe.

Paige was fumbling around with the tin in her hands. She was refusing to look at Phoebe now.

'Oscar was my last link to... Did you say to call it normality? He was my last link to normality. Nothing in my life is going to be the same again, is it?' said Paige.

Phoebe sighed. 'Being a witch has definitely changed things for me and Piper over the years.'

'Did it change things for Prue?' asked Paige.

When Phoebe did not make a reply to this, Paige finally looked over at her. Phoebe had her head turned in the other direction. Phoebe was looking across the courtyard into nothingness.

'Sorry. I didn't think. Sometimes I speak before I think things through properly,' Paige said apologetically.

Phoebe turned back to Paige. 'It's okay. You did not know Prue. You must have questions. She _was_ your eldest sister too. Ask me anything.'

After a long pause, Paige shook her head. 'I don't actually have any questions. I don't know whether it's one of those things where you are put on the spot and your mind goes blank, or whether it is because there is nothing I need to know.'

Phoebe smiled. 'If you ever think of anything, just ask. I wouldn't bring the topic up in front of Piper though. She needs time.'

Paige nodded. Her eyes darted back down to the tin in her hands and then over to the space in the flower bed. Slowly Paige poured the contents into the flower bed and moved the soil back over it. All the while, Phoebe watched in silence.

Phoebe eventually broke the silence. 'Why did you name him Oscar?'

'My favourite poet has always been Oscar Wilde,' replied Paige. 'I always misspelt his last name though by sticking an R on the end.'

A smile lit up Phoebe's face. 'You wrote Wilde as Wilder?'

Not noticing Phoebe's sudden change in demeanour, Paige said, 'Yeah. I don't see why my english teacher always got annoyed. The pronunciation is practically the same.'

'Wilder...' muttered Phoebe. 'You have some good foresight, considering you didn't know...'

Paige raised an eyebrow. 'Didn't know what?'

Phoebe never answered that question.

* * *

**A/N:** Although primarily revolving around Oscar's fate, this plot focused on Paige's initial reactions to the events of _Charmed Again_. I tried not to use any _Charmed_ terminology in the narrative as it was from Paige's perspective and Paige is still new to it all.

Thank you for all the previous chapter's reviews. I will try to think up of a plausible solution to the Chris' impossible memories suggestion, but I will only write something if I can think up something that is worthwhile. Therefore the next chapter may or may not be Chris based.


	3. (6,7,8) Board To Death

**Episode(s):** _Chris-Crossed (6x10)/It's A Bad Bad Bad Bad World Part 2 (6x23)/Someone To Witch Over Me (7x07)/Forever Charmed (8x22)_

**Continuity:** In _Forever Charmed_, future Chris makes his final appearance. For some unknown reason, he seems to have retained the memories of the future Chris of season six even though that Chris no longer exists. Starting with the events of _Chris-Crossed_, this one-shot hopes to present a plausible explanation.

* * *

**Board To Death**

**2003/2004**

Chris was safe from his present... for now. His fiancee had come back to the past to drag him back to their present. She had been successful until the Charmed Ones of Chris' past had figured out Chris' hidden message about fixing the squeaky floorboard in the attic. With the help of a piece of paper tucked away beneath that one floorboard for a little over twenty two years, Chris was able to regain his powers. With his powers back, Chris was able to escape his captors and return to the past where the Charmed Ones were expecting him.

Almost immediately, after dodging questions from the Charmed Ones and Leo, Chris left the attic.

The attic was in silence. No one knew what to say about the events that had just occurred. In their combined years as Charmed Ones, the three sisters had experienced a lot of time travel in varying forms. However they had never experienced anything like this before.

The silence was broken by a squeak as Piper accidentally stepped onto the loose floorboard. Piper suddenly stopped in her tracks as all eyes turned on her.

'Can we never fix that floorboard again?' asked Phoebe.

Piper narrowed her eyes in concentration. 'If we were to fix it... Then Chris would never be able to get the spell in the future that helped him to escape and get back here...'

'Exactly,' said Phoebe. 'So what happens if it were to get fixed?'

Paige groaned. 'We have to live with a squeaky floorboard for the rest of our lives?'

'We never noticed it before Chris mentioned it,' Piper pointed out.

Paige sighed. 'Yes, but now that I know it's there I will notice it more...'

* * *

**October 2004**

Adult Chris had died, baby Chris was born, and Gideon was finally gone. Baby Chris was going to grow up in a world where he had his older brother, his parents, and his aunts with him.

As Piper had been through an operation, she was spending a few days at the hospital with baby Chris. Leo had decided to stay by Piper and Chris' side all night long. Therefore Phoebe and Paige were alone in the manor that evening.

Phoebe was asleep in her bedroom. However she was woken up by a squeaking noise from the floor above: the attic. Suspicious of what evil could be lurking up there, Phoebe made her way up to the attic. She was surprised to find Paige there.

Paige made no response to her sister entering the attic. She was slowly pressing her foot on the loose floorboard, causing the floorboard to make the squeaky sound that had woken Phoebe up.

'Paige...' said Phoebe, worried for her baby sister.

Paige stepped off the loose floorboard and turned to Phoebe. Phoebe noticed for the first time that Paige's eyes were watery.

'Paige...' repeated Phoebe, pulling Paige into a hug.

'Phoebe... I saw Chris... I saw him die...' whispered Paige. 'I was right there while Leo cried for his dying son.'

'Paige... I know this is difficult to accept, but baby Chris is the same person. Adult Chris gave his life for both Wyatt and himself to have a good future,' Phoebe reassured Paige.

'Baby Chris is not the same though. Baby Chris did not save me from the titans, baby Chris did not try to save Wyatt, baby Chris was not a neurotic white lighter that annoyed us for months on end,' argued Paige.

'He may not have the same memories, but he will have better memories,' said Phoebe.

'Yes, but why did Chris have to die?' asked Paige.

Phoebe sighed. She had never seen Paige grieve over a family death before. Phoebe had not known Paige when her adoptive parents had died; and Paige had not known Patty, Penny, or Prue when any of them had died. Therefore, this was the first family death that Phoebe had had a chance to witness Paige mourning.

After what seemed like hours of silence in the attic, Paige finally said: 'What would happen if we removed it?'

Phoebe furrowed her brow. 'Removed it? Removed what?' Then she noticed that Paige was staring at the loose floorboard again. 'The spell?'

Paige nodded. 'If that future no longer exists, could we remove the spell from the floorboard? Surely it would not affect anything, because according to you, the Chris that came back to stop Wyatt turning evil never existed.'

Phoebe ignored Paige's spiteful tone, knowing that Paige was dealing with the loss of a family member as best as she could. Phoebe walked over to the loose floorboard, removing the board, and grabbing the spell.

'What are you doing?' asked Paige, shocked. 'Put that back in!'

'You were the one that was asking what would happen,' said Phoebe.

'I know, but I did not mean that we should actually take it out!' said Paige. 'What if we leave the attic and find that Gideon did succeed and Wyatt is evil and... Chris... He...'

'Chris died before Leo stopped Gideon...' Phoebe said, sighing.

'If that spell was not there, Chris could have died in the unchanged future,' said Paige.

Phoebe shook her head. 'This is giving me a headache! That unchanged future no longer exists! If we remove this spell it shouldn't make any difference to our current timeline!'

'How can we be sure?' asked Paige.

Phoebe took one last look at the spell that they had left for Chris before putting it back under the floor, replacing the loose floorboard to cover the spell up.

* * *

**2004/2005**

The concerns of his wife and sisters-in-law had led to Leo undertaking a vision quest. After taking a sip of the potion, Leo lay down on some pillows and blankets that had been set out on the attic floor for him. There was a slight squeak as his head fell onto the pillows. Someone had decided to position one of the pillows directly over the loose floorboard.

During the vision quest, Leo found himself speaking to adult Chris, except it wasn't Chris. He had the appearance of Chris, the voice of Chris, and all the memories of Chris. Except he was not Chris. The figure only knew the things that Leo knew about that Chris. He was a figment of Leo's imagination. Leo's mind was using someone he was familiar with to help him work through his thoughts.

Leo awoke from his vision quest only to be dragged back into a second one by the floating heads. He felt himself fall back to the floor, his head landing harshly on the pillow on top of the squeaky floorboard as he fell back into the slumber of a vision quest.

As Leo listened to the man - Alpha - who had appeared by the gravestone in Leo's new surroundings, Leo could not take his eyes off the gravestone. Even as Alpha began to explain about the existence of Avatars, Leo could not stop himself from thinking back to how one of adult Chris' many regrets had been that Piper had died when he was only fourteen.

Once alerted to the fact that Piper and Phoebe were in danger, Leo was pulled out of his vision quest. Leo spoke to Alpha in the attic before leaving to find his wife and sister-in-law.

Leo did not notice a faint glow being emitted from beneath the pillow... from beneath the loose floorboard.

* * *

**October 2018 - Changed Future**

A newly turned fourteen year old Christopher Halliwell sat in his room, scribbling in his notebook. He was in a bad mood at his mother who had told him off for accompanying Wyatt to the underworld. _Accompanying_ had not been the word that Piper had used. Piper had used the word _taking_ as if it had been Chris' idea and as if he was responsible for his older brother.

Chris was utterly annoyed at this. For as long as he could remember, his parents and his aunts all treated Chris like he was the responsible one. It was as if anything bad that happened was his fault. For a long while, Chris believed that this behaviour of his family members was because, to them, Wyatt was the golden child. As the golden child, Wyatt Halliwell could do no wrong in their eyes.

However, over the years, as Chris heard more and more references to the non-existent future version of himself, he had come to realise that his parents and aunts had gotten so used to the idea of their second son, Chris (a.k.a. Chris Perry from the unchanged future), keeping his eye on Wyatt, that they were unaware that they had enforced this role onto their second son, Chris (the Chris that had been allowed a normal life thanks to the time travelling antics of Chris Perry), even though Wyatt was one year and eight months older than him.

Chris had never confronted his family about this annoying factor. It had its downsides which often ended up with Chris sitting by himself in a bad mood, scribbling in his notebook, in his bedroom. However there were also some positives to it. Being the younger brother of the Twice-Blessed first born of the Charmed Ones had led to Chris having a major inferiority complex. Therefore, being treated as if he was more responsible than Wyatt gave a boost to his self esteem.

Chris laughed to himself as he continued to scribble in his notebook. _I bet that other Chris never had an inferiority complex considering he was Piper and Leo's only good son._

Chris suddenly put the notebook down and stood on his feet. He furrowed his brow. He had sensed some sort of change in the atmosphere. This was strange for two reasons.

Although Wyatt and Chris were both white lighter-witches, Wyatt had always been more skilled in the white lighter area, with his white lighter powers and white lighter personality traits. Chris had always been more skilled as a witch. He had developed the same power as his late aunt Prue and his aunt Paige - the power of telekinesis. Although he had white lighter genes, Chris' telekinesis operated in the way that he had been told his late aunt Prue's power had worked.

Chris had never gotten the hang of the white lighter ability to sense. Therefore the fact that he was suddenly sensing a shift in the atmosphere was the first reason that this was strange to him.

The second reason why it was strange was because the atmosphere change seemed to have come from upstairs - the attic. Piper was downstairs preparing Chris' birthday dinner, while Leo was at magic school, and Wyatt had been called away by the Elders - although Wyatt was only fifteen, he was already training to be a white lighter. Lastly, eleven year old Melinda was still at their aunt Phoebe's house as Melinda had spent the day working on a school project with P.J. Therefore it could not possibly be a member of Chris' immediate family in the attic.

It could not be evil either, as it was impossible for evil to set foot inside the attic as the three Charmed Ones had performed a Power of Three protection spell on it. Combined with the extra powers provided by the Charmed Ones' offspring, the protection spell had been a success.

Chris opened his bedroom door and snuck across the hallway towards the attic steps. If there was someone up there, he did not want them to know that he was on his way up. Chris reached the attic door and slowly pushed it open. At first sight of the attic, it was completely empty of any life and there was nothing out of place. However, as Chris shut the door behind him and surveyed the attic for a second time, he noticed something strange coming from the attic floor.

A strange faint glow was being emitted around the edges of one of the floorboards. Slowly, Chris approached that area of floor. He knelt down in front of the source of light. Digging his fingers into the spaces of that one floorboard, Chris separated that particular floorboard from the floor. Luckily for him, that particular floorboard was already loose, so the act of separation required minimal effort.

The source of the glow had come from a small rolled up piece of paper that sat in the space beneath where the loose floorboard had been. Chris picked up the rolled up piece of paper. Although it was glowing, Chris could tell that the paper was quite yellow and worn.

_I wonder how long it's been here_, thought Chris.

Chris took a look around the attic to check that he was definitely alone. Once he had confirmed that he had no unwanted company, Chris unravelled the piece of paper. A blast was emitted from the piece of paper before Chris could read its contents. Chris fell onto his back, knocked out.

A few hours later, Chris found himself being shaken awake. Slowly Chris opened his eyes. He was lying down in the attic and he could not remember why. A young girl that looked so similar to Piper was still pushing against Chris' shoulder, trying to shake him awake even though his eyes were now visibly open.

'Chris! Chris!' the girl said.

'I am awake! My eyes are open!' moaned Chris, sitting up, still trying to figure out how he had gotten into that position in the first place.

'I know,' said the girl, smiling cheekily. 'Anyway, you had better get downstairs. Everyone's home and we are all waiting for you so as the celebrations can begin.'

Chris furrowed his brow. 'Celebrations?' _What celebrations could there be? Wyatt's evil and dad's never around._

'Your birthday! Remember? Did you get a knock on the head during a demon fight or something?' said the girl before adding, 'Don't worry, I won't tell Mum that you were fighting demons up here by yourself.'

'Sorry, but _who_ are you?' asked Chris.

The girl went pale and began muttering to herself, 'Okay, okay, what are the options? It could be possession, a spell gone awry, or...' Colour returned to the girl's cheeks as she shook her head. '... Or it could be a mean older brother trying to scare his gullible little sister!'

'What? Sister? What? Number one: I am not possessed; number two: I don't think I cast a spell; and number three: What? Sister? What?' shouted Chris.

'Chris, this is not funny!' said the girl annoyed. 'Just because it's your birthday, it does not mean you can act like a jerk.'

'Melinda! Are you bringing Chris down today or are you going to wait until his next birthday?' Piper called from downstairs.

_Melinda?_ thought Chris. Then it all came back to him. Melinda was his little sister, Wyatt was not evil, and Leo was always around. It was as if Chris had remembered something from another lifetime.

'We are on our way!' Melinda shouted in the direction of the attic door. She turned back to Chris and said, 'Are you finished being a jerk yet? Can we go downstairs now?'

Chris smiled as he stood up. 'Sure.'

'What's that?' asked Melinda, pointing to Chris' hand.

Chris suddenly noticed that he was holding a crumpled piece of worn, yellowing paper. Before he could take a look at it to figure out what it was, Melinda had snatched it from his hand.

'Why do you need a spell to get your powers back?' asked Melinda as she finished reading the piece of paper. 'Did you lose your powers?'

Chris frowned. 'I... I don't know.' Chris noticed that a floorboard was out of place behind Melinda. He suddenly remembered what had happened prior to waking up in the attic. The glow... The loose floorboard... The yellowed piece of paper... The blast... 'I was researching,' Chris lied. 'It's nothing to worry about.'

Chris snatched the piece of paper back from Melinda and shoved it in his pocket. Chris quickly flicked his wrist and the floorboard moved back into place telekinetically. Chris did not want anyone to know what had happened until he had figured out the answer himself.

'Melinda! Am I going to have a send up a search party?' Piper called up to the attic, getting impatient with the wait.

'I think we should get downstairs,' said Melinda.

Chris followed his little sister all the way down to the dining room. As Chris entered the dining room, he felt forced to take in a deep breath...

_Chris blinked. He was standing at the dining room entrance by himself. In front of him, the dining room was decorated with party banners and balloons and the table was filled with an extravagant meal. Six people were sat at the dining room table: Piper; Phoebe with extremely short hair; Paige with straightened red hair; Darryl; Darryl's wife Sheila; and David.  
_

As Chris let a breath out, he rubbed his eyes, confused by what he had just witnessed. Whatever that was, it had been Piper's birthday. He was a little stunned not just by what he had seen, but what he had known. How had he known that the couple in that memory had been Darryl and Sheila? His family had spoken of them, but the couple had left town when Chris was close to one years old. Therefore Chris had never met them before. Plus Chris somehow knew that the man known as David had been conjured by his aunts. How did he know these things and why had he even seen it?

Chris reopened his eyes to look at the real view of the dining room in front of him: The dining room table was set out for a special dinner celebration - Chris' birthday dinner to celebrate turning fourteen. The cutlery and plates, that were strictly only used for special occasions, were out on the table and there were many balloons littering the room. The table had been magically lengthened to fit sixteen people.

Paige (with her usual long dark hair), Henry, Tamora, Kat, Henry Jr, Coop, P.J., and Parker were all already sat at the table. Paige smiled at her niece and nephew as they entered the dining room.

'There the two of you are. Piper was threatening to call the party off if you did not show up in the next few minutes,' said Paige.

'Sorry. I had to sort a couple of things out,' lied Chris.

Chris noticed Melinda looking at him. She had noticed that Chris had lied to their aunt, but Melinda had decided not to say anything about it.

Wyatt stuck his head into the dining room and saw Chris and Melinda. He smiled at them before disappearing back into the kitchen.

'Mum! Everyone's downstairs now!' they heard Wyatt shout as he made his way back to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, everyone was sat down at the table. Piper sat at the head of the table, the chair closest to the kitchen. Leo sat to her left. Next to Leo was Victor, followed by Coop, and then there was Phoebe (with her usual long hair). Next to Phoebe sat her youngest child, who was next to P.J., who was next to Parker. Paige was sat at the other end of the table. To her other side sat Henry. Next to Henry was Henry Jr followed by Kat, followed by Tamora. Next to Tamora was Melinda, who was next to Wyatt. Lastly, between Wyatt and Piper sat Chris.

The birthday dinner was running quite smoothly, with the great food - consisting of three courses - and great company. Wyatt, the golden child that he was, helped Piper clear away the plates from the main course while she went to make final preparations on the dessert. Leo had also disappeared into the kitchen.

During this interval between courses, Melinda shuffled into Wyatt's empty seat so as she was sitting directly next to Chris.

'Are we going to talk about what happened in the attic?' whispered Melinda.

Fortunately for them, the rest of the family were too engrossed in their own conversations to overhear Chris and Melinda's new conversation.

'I told you I was researching,' whispered Chris.

Melinda shook her head. 'Not that. The part where you forgot who I was.'

Chris frowned. 'That was me joking around.'

Melinda rolled her eyes. 'That's what I thought up until dinner started.'

'What do you mean?' asked Chris.

'You have been acting a little off ever since we set foot in the dining room,' said Melinda. 'It is as if you are not used to the sight of so many family members at once. Looking at your demeanour, you would think a happy family setting is rare around here, even though our family is closer than most others.'

'Where did you get that stupid analysis from?' asked Chris, trying to deny that Melinda's observations had been correct.

'When you were speaking to Henry Jr about the television show you saw the other day and dad joined in the conversation, you gave him a cold glare,' began Melinda.

Chris sighed. He did not know why he had done that. The sound of Leo's voice butting into Chris' conversation had caused Chris to feel anger towards Leo, but Chris did not know why. He had hoped that the glare had gone unnoticed in the brief second that it took him to change his expression, but Melinda had evidently noticed.

'During the main course, Wyatt nicked one of your roast potatoes. You flinched as Wyatt moved his fork towards you as if you were scared...' continued Melinda.

'I was not scared. I just was not expecting it,' whispered Chris in an annoyed tone. Truthfully, he had flinched at Wyatt's rash movement because the idea of an evil Wyatt had returned to his mind. All he had been told by his family was that Wyatt had been evil and his future self and stopped that from happening. Therefore Chris was not too sure why he was suddenly getting such a vivid recollection of an evil Wyatt.

Melinda laughed. Chris was about to argue in defense of his dignity, but was halted by the sudden intake of a deep breath...

_The table in the dining room was bare except for three empty plates. The balloons had disappeared. Chris was sat at the dining room table with Phoebe. Her smile had vanished and her expression were glum._

_Phoebe noticed Chris staring at her. She smiled faintly at him before saying, 'Try not to think about your brother, Chris. Today is your day. It's all about you.'_

_Chris pouted as he stared at his aunt. 'Why couldn't dad be here? It's my birthday. Has he forgotten?'_

_'He has not forgotten that you are fourteen today. He's busy working, honey,' said Phoebe apologetically. 'White lighters and Elders are on full alert at the moment, because of Wy - because of... what's going on.'  
_

_Chris sighed. 'Wyatt always gets dad's attention.'_

_Suddenly the lights went out. The only source of light now came from the glow of the candles on top of the small birthday cake that Piper was carrying into the dining room. Piper and Phoebe attempted to sing 'Happy Birthday', but the tone in the room was so depressing that the song seemed quite melancholic.  
_

_Piper placed the cake on the table. However, before Chris had a chance to blow out the candles, the cake burst into flames as a fireball hit it. Phoebe pushed Chris behind her as she and Piper faced the demon that had thrown the fireball._

_Piper flicked her wrists towards the demon, but her power had little effect on him. A small puff of smoke erupted from his shoulder, but no pain or injury had been inflicted. The demon sneered. Phoebe levitated into the air - she had been granted her levitation powers back years earlier - and aimed a kick at the demon. The demon made a motion with his hand and Phoebe was thrown backwards into the wall. Phoebe had been hurt and she was unconscious.  
_

_Chris flicked his wrist at the demon, trying to push him away with his telekinesis. However the demon appeared to be immune to Chris' powers as well as to Piper's powers. The demon sneered at Chris.  
_

_'Chris, get down!' Piper yelled, pushing Chris to the ground as a fireball came hurtling in his direction._

_In saving her son, Piper had moved into the path of the fireball. The force of the fireball forced Piper through the wall behind her into the conservatory._

_'No!' Chris shouted, looking through the hole in the wall. Piper lay unconscious and injured on the other side._

_Chris turned back to face the demon that had injured his mother and aunt. Chris was seething. The demon laughed at Chris' angry expression.  
_

_'I came with a message from your brother. No one was going to stop me from delivering it,' said the demon._

_Chris scowled at the demon. 'What was the message?'_

_The demon's smile grew into a wicked grin. 'Happy Birthday.' Having successfully sent his message, the demon shimmered out of the dining room._

_Chris immediately called for his father, yelling at the top of his voice. If there was anyone else that he knew who could have healed Piper and Phoebe, he would have called them instead, but Leo was his only choice._

_On orbing in, after five minutes worth of Chris calling for him, Leo met Chris and Phoebe in the conservatory. Phoebe was conscious. She had aided Chris in calling for Leo when she had woken up, and was ignoring her bleeding forehead. Her teary eyes were set on her older sister when Leo finally appeared in the room. Chris was kneeling over his mother, hugging her limp body. Debris littered the floor all around them, but Chris did not care. He had been unable to find a pulse, but he was hoping beyond hope that Leo could heal her.  
_

_Leo hovered his hands over Piper, trying desperately to get his healing power to work, but it was too late. Piper was dead.  
_

_The only positive of the day was that this was the first of Chris' birthdays that Leo had ever attended, and that was all thanks to Wyatt._

Chris finished his deep breath as the surroundings of the birthday party that was filled with his happy family returned. However everyone had gone quiet now. They were all staring at him, worriedly.

Chris feigned a smile. 'What?'

Phoebe was the first to speak. 'What did you see?'

'What do you mean?' asked Chris.

'That was a premonition face if I have ever seen one,' Phoebe explained.

'Since when do you look in a mirror when you are mid-premonition?' asked Coop, trying to break the room's tension with a little humour. Everyone ignored him, eager to hear Chris' response.

'I don't have that power,' said Chris. He knew that what he had just seen was not a premonition. It was more like a forced memory, but he did not want to worry anyone with the details of it, especially as it had never happened.

'You could be developing it as a new power,' Paige suggested.

'I don't think it is possible to inherit more than one of the three main Warren lineage powers,' said Chris.

'Melinda Warren had all three,' Henry pointed out. Over their years together, Henry had learnt as much about Paige's family, as she had about his family.

Paige smiled sweetly at her husband. 'She was the first in the line of Warren witches, so she obviously would have all three powers.'

Henry blushed.

Suddenly the lights went out. Chris froze in terror. Minus the numerous family members in the dining room, this was how the memory had began. Piper, Leo, and Wyatt entered the dining room, carrying a huge birthday cake that had fourteen candles lit on top. Everyone began to sing 'Happy Birthday'. The similarities between this and the memory were too much for Chris to handle. As the cake was set down in front of Chris, everyone went silent, waiting for him to blow out the candles.

Instead of attempting to blow the candles out, Chris grabbed the cake knife that Piper had put on the table. He stood up on his chair, the cake knife in his hand, as he looked around the dining room for any sign of a demon shimmering in.

'Christopher Halliwell!' shouted Piper. 'Put that knife down and sit on your chair!'

'I can't, mum!' shouted Chris. 'I don't want you to die on my birthday!'

Piper went pale at hearing these words. 'We... We never told you about that...'

'About what?' asked Melinda, scared at hearing these words. 'Are you going to die?'

'Auntie Piper?' said a worried P.J.

'If Aunt Piper gets hurt, you will heal her, won't you?' a grimacing Kat asked Paige.

'Chris... How do you know about that?' asked Leo.

The commotion of separate conversations concerning the same subject matter filled the room with noise. Chris was still standing on his chair, holding the cake knife, ignoring his parents' questions as he scanned the room for any evil. Chris' eyes suddenly landed on Wyatt who was looking up at Chris with an expression of worry.

'Take all the kids into the other room,' Leo said to Henry and Coop. 'We need to have a chat with Chris about something that happened over fourteen years ago.

Henry and Coop nodded, ushering all of the children into the adjacent room, excluding Chris, Wyatt, and Melinda. The only daughter of Piper was refusing to leave after hearing her brother say such a thing about her mother. She wanted to know what was going on. Meanwhile, Wyatt was still watching Chris, who was in turn watching Wyatt.

_Wyatt's evil,_ thought Chris. _I can stop him now before he gets a chance to cause mum's death._ Chris' eyes darted down at the knife quickly before looking back at Wyatt. The words _If I can't save you, I swear I'll stop you_ reverberated through Chris' head.

Chris' grip on the knife tightened as he stared menacingly at his older brother. Paige must have noticed Chris' sudden intentions because she shouted:

'Knife!'

The knife was telekinetically orbed out of Chris' hand into Paige's. Chris' eyes widened in shock as he realised what he had been about to do.

_Wyatt is not evil,_ Chris thought. _I know that! Why did I think differently just before?_

'Christopher Halliwell! Sit down now!' shouted Piper, extremely worried about Chris' impossible knowledge and his current strange behaviour. 'We need to have a talk!'

Chris sat back down. At the same time, everyone else who had remained in the dining room found a seat. Someone had removed the cake while he had not been looking so the table was clear enough to see across. Piper, Leo, Wyatt, and Melinda were sat back in their original positions. Phoebe and Paige were now sitting to the left of Leo, and Victor was sitting to the other side of Melinda.

Victor was the first to speak up. 'I will never forget the day that Chris told me that Piper would die on his fourteenth birthday.'

Chris' eyes widened in shock. 'I saw something that happened to the other Chris?'

'So you did have some form of premonition,' said Phoebe.

Chris shook his head. 'Not a premonition, Phoebe. A memory.'

'Chris, manners!' Piper snapped.

Chris was confused by this statement. 'What did I d-' He paused as he realised that he had not called her 'aunt Phoebe'. 'Sorry, it's a force of hab - habit...' Chris stammered a little as he realised that memories of the other Chris were seeping into his own memories, causing his mind to become a little jumbled.

'A force of habit?' said Leo. 'How is it a force of habit?'

Chris held his forehead and closed his eyes as he tried to think clearly. 'I think I am getting Chris' memories. That Chris' memories. The _other_ Chris. He was used to calling aunt Phoebe by her first name, because he was under cover.'

'You're getting Chris' memories? You saw how I died in the future that he came from?' asked Piper, anxiety entering her tone.

Chris opened his eyes and looked over at his mother. He nodded. Piper took one of Chris' hands and squeezed it.

'Don't worry about me, Chris,' said Piper. 'I am sorry that you had to see whatever happened that day, but that will never happen. Wyatt is not evil, this family is in one piece, and I am not going to leave you. I promise.'

Piper's look of reassurance helped to quash Chris' fears. Chris felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see that the hand belonged to Wyatt.

'Chris, I am not evil,' said Wyatt. 'I will never be evil.'

Wyatt had never been one for motivational speeches. Chris nodded at his brothers few words of reassurance. Melinda peered around Wyatt to grab Chris' attention.

'Chris, did I not exist in that future?' Melinda asked, referring back to when Chris had no idea who she was.

Chris sighed. 'I don't know. I guess when you connect the dots of a father who was never there...' Chris glanced over at Leo before glancing back towards Melinda. '... it was never conceivable for you to be born.'

'I thought Chris never mentioned Melinda to keep up his 'future consequences' theme,' said Paige, shrugging.

'So do you remember _everything_ that happened while Chris was in the past?' Phoebe asked Chris.

Chris nodded. 'The whole twenty two years of his life, and I guess the final year of that consisted of the year before I was born.' Chris suddenly cringed as he recalled the time when Phoebe had been a genie and the other Chris had wished for Piper and Leo to sleep together. When being told the 'Phoebe was once a genie' story, that part had always been left out. 'Wow. There sure is a lot of things you have not told us in your stories of the other Chris.'

'Oh tell us! I want to know!' said a suddenly curious Melinda.

Chris shook his head. 'Trust me, you don't want to know.'

'I don't quite understand,' said Victor. 'Why - no, how - is Chris remembering all of this?'

Piper and Leo exchanged looks as they tried to think up a suitable explanation.

'Chris, when did this start?' asked Leo.

* * *

**2026 - Changed Future  
**

Some information involving a new evil looming in San Francisco had led Wyatt and Chris to the underworld. The two brothers were making their way down a tunnel when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a horde of demons.

Wyatt and Chris exchanged smug glances. They knew that they could easily take on the demons. Working together, Wyatt and Chris were easily vanquishing each demon that attacked them. They were not even unnerved by the fact that more demons were constantly joining the brawl. The two brothers were too busy competing with one another to show off who was more powerful.

Wyatt held his palms outwards, sending some combustive orbs into a demon. The demon exploded in a burst of flames.

Chris tried to do one better than Wyatt. Chris swept his arm outwards at a brisk pace causing four fireballs to revert in the direction they had come from, vanquishing four demons at once.

'I can do better than that,' said Wyatt, laughing.

Once again, Wyatt held both of his palms outwards. This time an energy wave was emitted from his palms, knocking out more than ten demons.

Chris rolled his eyes. 'Show off.'

Wyatt chuckled. 'You only say that now, because you can't do any better than me.'

Chris accepted the challenge. 'Fine. Try and beat this one.' Chris took a deep breath and concentrated as he channeled his power of telekinesis into his right hand. Taking a step backwards, Chris threw his right hand outwards. The telekinetic blast pushed almost ten demons away from them. Some of the demons were vanquished in the process by fireballs that had been caught in the telekinetic blast.

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and continued the banter. 'Is that it? Chris, you can do better than that.'

It was Wyatt's turn again to show off his power. Wyatt noticed that a fireball was hurtling in his direction. Attempting to tap into his power of pyrokinesis, Wyatt knew that he could manipulate that fireball.

Chris rolled his eyes again. Wyatt loved to show off his range of different powers. The fireball was getting extremely close to Wyatt, and Wyatt looked like he was trying to concentrate hard on activating his pyrokinesis power.

'Wyatt!' shouted Chris, worried for his older brother's safety.

Wyatt suddenly ducked out of the way when he realised that his pyrokinesis power was not working. Chris quickly helped Wyatt to his feet.

'Why did you duck? You could have orbed out of the way,' said Chris.

Wyatt shook his head. All the smugness from their competition was no longer visible in his expression.

'I can't orb,' said Wyatt.

Chris was shocked. 'What? Try another of your powers.'

'I am trying!' said Wyatt as he held his palms outwards towards the demons. Nothing was happening.

'Let's get out of here and figure out what's going on,' said Chris.

'What about our lead on the new looming evil?' asked Wyatt.

Chris sighed. 'We will have to wait until another day. We can't face evil with you powerless.'

Chris grabbed Wyatt's shoulder and orbed them to the safety of the attic.

'We should tell mum and dad,' said Wyatt, walking towards the attic door.

'No,' said Chris, who was already flicking through the Book of Shadows. 'They don't need to worry. We will get your powers back soon enough. We just need to find a spell that will take us back to when you lost your powers.'

Wyatt walked away from the door over to his brother. 'Okay.'

Chris smiled as he stopped on a page in the Book. 'This spell should work.'

* * *

**2006**

The spell had sent Wyatt and Chris back to 2006. It happened to be around the time of the Ultimate Battle. After hearing future Wyatt and Chris' predicament, the Charmed Ones asked them to go to Victor's house, while they prepared for what was hopefully the end of the Ultimate Battle against the Triad and Christy.

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige returned to the manor a little while later to be greeted by the rest of the family, including the return of Leo. The sisters had also been successful in making sure that Wyatt's powers came back.

Phoebe decided to tag along with Coop for his task of sending Penny and Patty back to their own respective times; Victor went back home; and Piper and Leo decided to take a walk with their two sons as Leo had missed his boys while Piper had missed her husband. This left Paige alone in the conservatory with future Wyatt and Chris.

Wyatt and Chris had been about to head upstairs to the Book of Shadows to find a spell that would send them back to their own time, but Paige had stopped them.

'Wyatt, you can go on up to the attic,' said Paige. 'I need to speak to Chris in private.'

Wyatt nodded and orbed out of the conservatory. Paige turned to Chris.

'Shouldn't you be finding Uncle Henry?' Chris asked Paige. 'I am sure he would want to know that you're okay.'

'I need to ask you something first, Chris,' said Paige.

Chris looked slightly nervous. 'What's there to ask?'

'You noticed your slip up as much as I did,' said Paige. 'As if it was habit, you called my sister 'Phoebe' instead of 'aunt Phoebe'. You also knew other details about us that Wyatt did not know.'

Chris gulped. 'What are you implying?'

'How do you have Chris' memories? That future never existed... How can you know some of the things that you shouldn't know?'

Chris sighed. 'Look, at some point in your future, I will find a rolled up piece of paper in the attic, beneath a loose floorboard. Unravelling the piece of paper will project that other Chris' memories into me.'

'How?' asked Paige, furrowing her brow.

'You are the one who explained it to everyone straight after dad asks 'when did this start?'' said Chris. 'Apparently you only knew why because a future version of me - apparently the me standing here right now talking to you - told you and then asked you not to mention it again until after that question was posed by dad.'

Paige put her hand on her forehead. 'Ugh. Time travel causes too many headaches.'

Chris nodded. 'Anyway, what you told everyone on that day was: When dad was under the influence of a vision quest, the force of the Avatars invading his mind created a power that reverberated into the piece of paper below that floorboard. The power consisted of Dad's memories of me, because apparently I was his guide in the vision quest or something... So when I found the spell, the memories inserted themselves in with my own.'

'I did not even know the details of Leo's vision quest,' said Paige. 'How did I ever get around to knowing this stuff to tell you it?'

'I told you. You said that you knew it, because I came back from the future and told you. It turns out that that day happened to be today,' explained Chris.

'Yes, but you did not know that stuff originally,' said Paige. 'One of us had to learn it somewhere! Ugh! Time travel!'

Chris laughed. 'Try not to think about it. Just get around to asking the same question that you will ask me again straight after you finish explaining the memory insertion thing when it eventually happens to me in your future.'

Paige smiled. She had a good idea of what question Chris was referring to, as she had been itching to ask it ever since Chris had mentioned the loose floorboard. 'Can we fix that loose floorboard now? I may not live here anymore, but every time we use that attic, it drives me nuts.'

Chris shook his head. 'No. Not today. Ask me that again when you finish explaining it to everyone in your future.'

Paige sighed. 'Can you at least tell me when that will happen? How many years are we talking?'

Chris smiled and shook his head. 'I can't tell you. Sorry: Future consequences.'

* * *

**A/N:** I did not originally intend for it to be this long, but I got a little carried away, despite the fact that I usually hate the idea of writing stories that revolve around the changed/unchanged future, or around Wyatt and Chris. I feel compelled to point out that the title of this one-shot is a pun, not a spelling mistake. Plus, the _Prince Charmed_ memory was a last minute add in, but it works. Please review with your opinions on this one-shot!

The next one-shot will either be based pre-season four (so as Prue can be in it) or during season five. This one-shot series is not open to requests at the moment, because I have tonnes of ideas that I am working my way through. The only reason I accepted the Chris' impossible memories challenge was because I already had the _Chris-Crossed_ 'Can they ever fix that loose floorboard?' one-shot idea.


	4. (5x01) Red Hair-ing

**Episode:** _A Witch's Tail Part 1 (5x01)_

**Pattern:** The first scene of _The Honeymoon's Over (3x01)_ involved Phoebe finding Prue in the attic and the first scene of _Charmed Again Part 1 (4x01)_ involved Phoebe finding Piper in the attic. In both scenes, Prue and Piper initially mistook Phoebe for someone else: Prue mistook her for a demon, and Piper mistook her for Prue. What if this pattern had continued for the opening scene of season five..?

* * *

**Red Hair-ing  
**

Paige was sitting in the attic at the table that the sisters used for making potions. The attic was relatively dim with only lit candles providing light to the room. The flickering light reflected her long dark hair. The time was somewhere around the early hours of the morning.

Paige was alone in the manor. A newly pregnant Piper had gone to _P3_ that evening along with Leo and Phoebe. Paige had decided to stay behind with the excuse that she had to be up early for work the next morning. There was truth in that to an extent. Paige did have to be up early for work the next morning, but that did not mean she was going to get an early night's sleep.

The youngest Charmed One placed another ingredient into the small cauldron that sat on the table in front of her. While she only had one year of magical experience, they had four years. Therefore, Paige had recently been spending all of the free time she had before and after work on magic. It was safe to say that ever since magic had been introduced into her life, her social life had dissipated.

There was a small puff of smoke from the cauldron as the witch added an ingredient. Paige picked up a knife and began to slice up the next ingredient. Once the ingredient was sliced up, Paige dropped it into the potion. This addition caused a bigger eruption of smoke.

There was a small creak as the attic door slowly opened. As the sound reached her ears, Paige's automatic whitelighter reactions caused her to orb in place. She was back within less than a second as her recently-honed witch responses kicked in.

Paige eyed a crystal on a far cabinet. It was one of the crystals that the sisters regularly used to cage evil entities. Although individually the crystals were useless, they were still heavy objects that could cause a dent when thrown. Paige jumped to her feet as she spun to face the intruder. As she did this, Paige shouted 'Crystal!'

The crystal on the far cabinet disappeared in a flurry of orbs. Blue and white orbs sped across the room towards the intruder. This all happened so fast in Paige's quickness to defend herself against a possible evil intruder that the crystal re-materialised before Paige had taken a proper look at the intruder.

The intruder managed to duck out of the way of the flying crystal, throwing themselves behind Aunt Pearl's couch in the process.

Paige picked up the knife she had been using to chop up some potion ingredients and waited for the intruder to emerge from behind the couch. Paige's expression softened before turning to one of utter embarrassment and guilt when the intruder-who-turned-out-not-to-be-an-intruder stood up.

Phoebe's eyes were wide with bewilderment. 'Paige! What was that for?'

Paige dropped the knife to the floor in shame. 'Sorry, Pheebs.' Now that she was sure that there was not an intruder and having apologised to Phoebe, Paige settled back down at the table and added another ingredient to the potion.

Phoebe eyed her younger sister as the small cauldron's newest supplement caused another puff of smoke to erupt. The youngest-turned-middle Charmed One did not move from her position by the sofa. She, however, did make an observation.

'You've been taking this catching up with magic thing too seriously lately,' Phoebe said.

Paige did not turn away from the cauldron. She began to stir the cauldron with a long wooden spoon as she replied, 'What makes you say that?'

Phoebe shook her head. 'You just attacked me, because the first thing you thought was there's a 'demon' in the house, rather than 'oh, my sister's home early'. Ring any bells?'

Paige stopped stirring for a second to sprinkle a herb into the potion. 'Don't blame me for that. Blame the demons that turn up at the manor on a near-daily basis.'

'You don't see me attacking Leo every time he orbs in,' Phoebe pointed out as a way to disprove Paige's explanation. 'You don't need to focus so much on learning spells and potions...'

'Actually I do,' Paige said, still not turning away from the cauldron. She grabbed the wooden spoon again and began to stir.

Phoebe frowned. 'No, you don't. We had to train you quickly at the beginning with the threat of the Source still around, but now... It's all over, Paige. You can take it slow.'

Paige whipped the spoon out of the cauldron as she turned around to face Phoebe angrily. 'Yes! I do! You and Piper almost chose to give everything up when the Angel of Destiny gave us the option!'

'We chose not to in the end,' Phoebe said seriously.

'I know, but what if you ever had the choice again?' Paige questioned.

'He said it was an one time only offer,' Phoebe reminded Paige.

'Doesn't mean you won't ever get that option due to different circumstances in the future,' Paige argued. 'If you do and if you ever did choose to give this magic up...' Paige sighed deeply as she stared down at the spoon in her hand. 'I just want the chance to learn as much as possible about this world before you and Piper actually do give up.'

Phoebe swallowed any idea of what to say in return. She was absolutely speechless at this revelation. When Phoebe did not answer, Paige returned to stirring the potion.

'Paige, we're not going to give up on magic... ever,' Phoebe finally uttered.

'How do you know?' Paige said, not turning away from the cauldron this time.

After another lengthy pause, Phoebe managed to respond, 'I can't speak for Piper, and I can't speak for my future self, but Paige, I can tell you that, presently, I don't want to give up on magic.'

Paige shook her head at this. 'You know that that's not true, Pheebs. Especially now that Cole may have found a way out.'

Phoebe took in a sharp intake of breath at the mention of his name. 'He may have found a way out, but I hopefully will have divorced him before he decides to turn up again.'

'I still don't understand...' Paige said, facing Phoebe again. 'After all you've been through with him, you're divorcing him. I know I'm probably the last person who'd ever take his side, but... Won't it be a good thing to have a non-possessed Cole back?'

It was Phoebe's turn to avoid eye contact with Paige this time. Phoebe's eyes began to well up as she thought through an appropriate response.

'I don't love him anymore,' Phoebe eventually said. 'I went to the wasteland to say goodbye. After everything that happened between us... I don't think I can take anymore drama, Paige. I need to try and forget about him...' Phoebe gulped. 'Even if that means pushing him away - telling him anything just to make him leave - so as I can try and move on.'

Paige could tell that Phoebe was finding all of this difficult to say. However due to her bias against Cole, Paige heard Phoebe say - instead of the aforementioned - the following: '_I hate Cole for all that he put me through. The deception, the evil, and everything about him. I just want to move on and I don't want him to come back_.'

Paige nodded in understanding. 'I know and that's why I think you'd still be willing to give up on magic.'

Phoebe smiled weakly as she finally resumed eye contact with Paige. 'I'll make a deal with you. I won't give up on magic _if_...' Phoebe trailed off.

Paige picked up a not-yet-chopped-into-smaller-pieces ingredient for the potion. 'If what? What's the catch?' she asked inquisitively.

Phoebe's smile vanished as she replied, 'If you stick by me during this whole Cole saga.'

Paige stood up in surprise, the ingredient still in her hand. 'Phoebe, you don't have to make that a condition in our deal. I'm going to stick by you no matter what. We're sisters.'

'You will?' Phoebe questioned.

'Of course!' Paige said, still astonished that Phoebe had to ask this of her.

'Even after I refused - time after time - to believe what you were saying about him?' Phoebe asked.

'Phoebe, stop asking stupid questions, and choose another condition for the deal, because you know I am going to be on your side throughout the concluding arc of the Cole debacle,' Paige said.

Phoebe managed a weak laugh. 'Thank you.'

Paige smiled back. She turned around to place the ingredient on the chopping board, but stopped when Phoebe spoke again.

'I won't give up on magic, if you -' Phoebe never finished that sentence.

The potion ingredient accidentally slipped out of Paige's grasp into the cauldron. As it had not yet been chopped up, it was a lot more than the potion required. Still standing behind Aunt Pearl's couch, Phoebe was a safe distance away from the resulting explosion. However, being right next to the cauldron, Paige was right in the way of what ensued.

Firstly the cauldron erupted with more smoke than it had produced the whole evening. This obscured both Phoebe's and Paige's vision of what occurred next. There was a huge splurge of noise as the cauldron's contents covered their direct surroundings. Unfortunately for Paige, this included her. Fortunately for Paige, the potion was not scolding, nor was it acidic in anyway.

As the smoke cleared, Paige could see that the floor around her was a bright red colour. Her clothes were drenched in the red potion. Looking away from herself, Paige eyed the attic. The couch and Phoebe were barely outside the potion's splash zone, and were lucky not to be covered. As her eyes met Phoebe's, Paige noticed Phoebe's bewildered expression.

Paige blushed. 'Oops.'

**...**

Paige stepped out of the bathroom. She was now dressed in a dressing gown and clean clothes. Her hair was wrapped in a towel.

It had only been an hour or so since the potion explosion in the attic. Phoebe had suggested that Paige go and wash the potion off, while Phoebe began the clean up in the attic. Now that a freshly clean Paige stood in the upper landing, she could hear Piper's ranting voice coming from the attic.

Paige sighed. Piper and Leo had obviously returned home during that time, and had noticed the state of the attic.

Reluctantly, Paige headed up to the attic. She stopped at the door. Most of the floor was covered in a thick red potion-like substance. However, the places where Phoebe had managed to make a start with a mop had become a slightly paler red in comparison. Piper was standing with her back to the attic door. Leo was nowhere within sight, so was presumably elsewhere within the manor.

'Phoebe, I still can't understand why you would come back early just to attempt a potion!' Piper was ranting.

Paige felt a guilty pang in her stomach as she realised that Phoebe had taken the blame for her.

'Don't worry. I'll leave the potion making to you or Paige in future,' Phoebe said by way of an apology. 'You won't see me making anymore potions in the near future.'

'You're definitely right about that!' Piper continued. She had evidently not noticed Paige's presence in the attic yet. 'What sort of potion was it even supposed to be?'

Phoebe sighed and shrugged. 'I don't know.' As she said those three words, Phoebe's eyes darted over to Paige as if secretly asking: '_What was the potion for, Paige_?'

Following Phoebe's gaze, Piper turned around to notice Paige standing at the door. Piper's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked from one sister to the other and back again.

Piper sighed. 'Phoebe, it wasn't you, was it? I'm not stupid.'

Phoebe dropped the mop to the floor and held her hands up in the air innocently. 'I'm not saying a word except pointing out that we've both already agreed that I don't have to do potion duties for a while, and that's absolutely fine with me since I've got so much going on at work.'

Piper rolled her eyes and turned to Paige.

'It was an honest mistake,' Paige said by way of explanation for the state of the attic.

'Yeah. I understand how easy it is to confuse getting an early night's sleep and accidentally blowing up a potion in the attic,' Piper said sarcastically.

'I'll clear it up,' Paige promised. Before Piper could reply, Paige decided to immediately act upon the promise by reciting her favourite spell - which by now, she happened to know off by heart. '_Let the object of objection become but a dream, as I cause the seen to be unseen_.'

The potion mess disappeared in a sparkle of lights. As Paige watched this, she wondered to herself, _I wonder whether this spell would ever work with the saying 'Abracadabra'_. Paige set her mind on trying that out the next time she had the chance to use that spell. For now, the youngest Charmed One had to face the wrath of the eldest living Charmed One.

'Paige, this super witch thing has to stop,' Piper began.

Paige shook her head, determined not to be made guilty for her potion making. 'I'm doing it for my niece.'

Once again, Phoebe's eyes widened as she stared at Paige. The youngest sister tried to avoid eye contact with Phoebe, by not breaking her stare away from Piper's. Phoebe had noticed that Paige was not giving Piper the same answer as she had earlier given Phoebe.

'What does improving your witch skills have anything to do with my daughter?' Piper asked as Paige wandered past her and over to the Book of Shadows.

Paige picked up the Book. 'I want my niece to be born into a world of as few demons as possible.' Paige went to leave the attic with the Book.

'And where are you going with that?' Piper asked.

Paige stopped. She turned back to Piper and shrugged nonchalantly. 'I was going to read up on Borneo demons.'

'Borneo demons? Why?' Piper asked.

Paige shrugged again. 'I've decided to research the weaknesses of a random demonic species each day, starting today.'

Paige went to walk out of the attic, but stopped when Piper spoke again.

'What about getting some sleep before work tomorrow?' Piper pointed out.

Paige shrugged. 'I'll get my research done before I have to go to work, I guess.'

Paige went to walk out of the attic again.

'Wait,' Piper tried, but Paige did not stop this time.

As Paige walked out of the attic, the towel fell from her hair, exposing it to Piper and Phoebe. Their eyes widened in shock.

Piper and Phoebe exchanged amused glances.

'Should we tell her now?' Phoebe asked Piper as Paige disappeared from their sight.

Piper smiled. 'We'll let her figure that out on her own.'

'For the results of an exploded potion, her hair looks really nice,' Phoebe continued. 'As far as botched potions - even spells gone awry - go, I've never seen such a nice change occur.'

Piper scowled. Her brief bout of good humour from seeing Paige's new hairstyle was gone. 'Thanks a lot, Pheebs. You have just jinxed it. Now we're going to be turned into a multitude of magical creatures which is going to include a whole bunch of stupid costumes over the year to come.'

* * *

**A/N:** Poor Piper and her pessimism. If only she knew how right she is. I love writing those sort of lines into these additional scenes. Also, I absolutely hate the title I have given this chapter, but it's the only one that fits (Red Herring/Red Hair-ing). Another point of this particular one-shot was to attempt to explain Phoebe's strange transition of emotions for Cole between the season four finale and season five premiere, because they did not match up. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.

The next chapter will either be based on _A Knight to Remember_ or be pre-season four based (so as it can be based on the original Power of Three).


End file.
